Halloween Pics

For Halloween this year we had an astronaut and a mini "Dorothy".  H's astronaut costume was a gift for his birthday and I had to talk him into wearing it.  I guess he thought it wasn't cool enough, but he enjoyed it when everyone told him how cool it was at school.  I made Livee's dress this year and was so proud of how it turned out.  It took me a solid day of sewing, but she has worn it so many times it really has made it worth it.  We trick-or-treated around our circle with a couple of our friends and then Dave came home.  Livee stayed with him to hand out candy and I took Hayden up his friend's street for more trick-or-treating.  We had a blast!

Blast From the Past

10 Pounds Down!

I am down 10 and feeling great!  I haven't exercised in about a month, but I have been continuing limiting sugar (with an occasional splurge).  In addition, I have incorporated trying to eat vegetarian lunches and dinners several times a week.  I honestly think that this has also helped my weight loss.  

Hayden's Birthday!

Hayden turned 7 on August 7th!  Since it was his "magic" birthday, we decided to redecorate his room and to have an ice cream party.  He started school on the 6th, so on his actual birthday we got him his favorite breakfast (bacon mcgriddle), he took his favorite lunch (egg drop soup), I took icing covered cookies to school, and we had Chinese food (his favorite) for dinner!  For his party we invited over a few friends, pre-froze ice cream, picked out toppings, and got out a new sprinkler ball.  The kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline and getting wet on a hot summer's day. I was even able to recycle the red pom poms from Livee's party since Hayden picked out Avengers decorations for everything!  Here are a few pics.  Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph everything before they dug into the ice cream, but you can get the idea.

Toppings included: root beer, whipped topping, red vines, sprinkles, marshmallows, M&M's, chocolate chips, sour gummy worms, homemade chocolate syrup, & homemade strawberry syrup

Check out that messy table!  Those kids really enjoyed their ice cream.

Opening gifts

As I mentioned before, Hayden started 1st grade on August 6th.  We are looking forward to having a great year, and so far he really likes his teacher!  They are the Butterflies.  He was not too thrilled about that one.

Spiderman showed up one day while Grammie and Deeda were here.  Who knew that could happen?

Weight check...

Well, even with birthdays and holidays I am proud to say that I am sticking to my no sugar diet and I have lost a total of 7 pounds! I am looking forward to sticking to it for the next couple of weeks and hopefully losing a few more. I feel great! I have to say that routine in the fall will help with my lack of exercising though. This is a lifestyle change for me and I don't feel deprived at all. As a matter of fact, when I do have sweets on special occasions like birthdays they are such a nice treat. Who knew? Check out Dave and I for his 20th:

Livee is 3!

When Hayden came home from Muscle Shoals, we had VBS at church.  Then we left to go to Birmingham again for Dave's 20th high school reunion!  It was a ton of fun!  We stayed with Dave's father and he decided to keep Hayden for the next week and bring him back for Livee's birthday.  So, Hayden and Livee got another full week of undivided attention from the adults around them!  Everybody wins!  

On Friday, my parents and brother and sister-in-law and niece and nephew came so they could be here for Livee's big day on Saturday!  This year we decided to have a Wizard of Oz birthday party.  Livee LOVES the Wizard of Oz-and yes, she gets it from me.  It was actually Dave's idea to use this theme and I didn't mind a bit planning it.  We decided to have it in the backyard in the morning so that we would have plenty of shade and it wouldn't be too hot.  (I also personally enjoy getting it over with and having the rest of the day to relax.)  

The food table - Melting Witch Punch, Over the Rainbow Fruit Cups, Glinda's PB&J Wands,  Lions & Tigers & Bears Oh My, and Dorothy's Ruby Slipper Cupcakes

Chocolate Wizard of Oz Cake by yours truly!

Our baby boy came home and Livee was so excited to see him!

Friends swinging and having fun!

Our friend Katie swinging!

My beautiful daughter with her Dorothy dress on.  She did not want to take it off!

Emily and Livee having their picnic.

Evie jumping on the trampoline with balloons.  She said it was the best party ever!

The melt the witch game, which did not really work.

-Opening her gifts-

-Opening MORE gifts-

Busy Summer

We have stayed super busy this summer.  Between the pool, the backyard, movies, friends, Birmingham visits, Muscle Shoals visits, and VBS we have hardly had any downtime!  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Ice cream pit stop at Bass Pro Shop on our way to Muscle Shoals.

Livee always has to have chocolate!

Yogurt during our Muscle Shoals visit.

Carley Grace and Livee at Carson's baseball game during a May visit to Muscle Shoals to celebrate mine and Carson's birthdays.

We visited the Hoover Public Library in June for the Roger Day concert.  Our friend Katie came with us!

This is our friend Sam.  We watch Roger Day with him every year!

My parents came over in June and we went to Senoia to see the Southern Living Idea House.  Of course the kids had to have an ice cream cone since it was a little hot that day!  Senoia is where they are currently filming "The Walking Dead" and where they have also filmed numerous other TV shows and movies.  It is a quaint town with lots of neat stores and places to eat. 

When my parents left our house in June, they took Hayden with them to stay for a whole week!  We met up with them the next Friday in Birmingham to pick him up.  We ate lunch downtown and visited the McWane Center.

Livee loved playing on the Dora exhibit!

Livee and Dora and Boots

Hayden is a lot like Boots-they are both big monkeys!

She was in heaven!

Hayden got to slide down to the second floor.

It's a twister!  This is the tornado machine.

Checking out the fish at McWane.

Back track!

I need to get caught up on everything, so I will break it down into several different posts.  First off are Hayden and Livee's end of the year programs from way back in May!

Livee doing the "Washing Machine" with all of the other 2 year olds.  She loves performing!

Mr. GQ and Livee after her program.

Hayden got to ask everyone to silence their cell phones at his program.

Hayden with 2 of his friends.  The little girl in the middle is his girlfriend.

Hayden with his teacher. 

Hayden's last day of Kindergarten!

2 Pounds down, How many more to go?

That's right.  Since stopping my sugar intake on Monday, I have already lost 2 pounds.  I'm not really sure how much more I want to lose, but "nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels."  I haven't really felt like I've missed out on that much when I've done this in the past.  I hope to make this a more permanent change for the future.  I just make the decisions each day as to what I will eat and try not to get all bent out of shape if I mess up.  

The truth is that I feel better when I don't eat sugar. 

I can still have fruit, but I will more than likely limit myself to once per day.  As for refined sugar, I don't know if I'll ever go back.  I didn't drink sodas that much anyway and if we have tea, it is unsweet.  My main problem was closet eating at night.  After everyone was in the bed, I would eat cookies or ice cream or whatever dessert we had at the house.  Even though I knew better, I was really thinking that if no one saw it, it didn't happen.  Then I started indulging mid-morning.  I eat an egg every morning for protein and since I was doing that I felt like it was okay to have a mini-scone with my Starbucks after I dropped Livee off at school.  After a while, it was adding up to be more sugar intake than I realized.  Before May, I was also attending Zumba classes two to three times a week so I felt entitled to have sweets every day if I wanted.  Sugar is like a drug to me.  Once I have a taste of it, I crave it and feel like I can't live without it.  It takes a couple of weeks, but after that I don't miss that sweet taste any more.  I started at 126ish.  My weight goal for now is 118.  My current weight is 124 - my pre (Livee)-pregnancy weight.  I'm not sure that I can make 118, but I can try to get there!  In all honesty, I will be happy if I can get to 120.  

My challenge for you is this:  add up your sugar intake for one day.

I think you will be shocked at the amount.  

Our bodies are designed to handle only teaspoons of sugar a day, not cups.  The AHA recommends 4 to 6 TEASPOONS per day for women.  Once soda contains 8.    Check out www.sarahwilson.com.au.  She has lots of great information!  

Hope everyone had a happy Cinco de Mayo!  

A new day is coming in the LaVecchia household. 

Easter baskets!  Loads of goodies for this sweet boy a girl - including a Magic Slushie,  and megazord sword, and princess everything!

This girl is a choco-holic.

Hayden moved to orange belt in karate.  We are so proud!